


Primary Sources

by SpaceWall



Series: Maedhros Remade [6]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Duty, Epistolary, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Friendship, Gap Filler, Letters, M/M, Responsibility, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:05:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18695707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWall/pseuds/SpaceWall
Summary: A collection of primary source texts on the end of the Third age and the beginning of the Fourth, possibly for display in the library of Tirion.Or,The letters of Maedhros Fëanorion, Boromir Son of Denethor, and Halon of Harad





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story exists between the final two chapters of Marred But Remade, and hopefully answers some of the lingering questions therein. It won’t make much sense if you didn’t read that work.

From the Desk of Elrond Peredhel, Fourth Age 370

Dear Elrond, 

How delighted I was to hear that you were compiling stories of the Third Age. Bilbo, I imagine, would have been very pleased. I trust that between yourself and your friends, you have more than enough anecdotes and songs of his to fill several volumes. Please do me the favour of asking Maglor to perform more of them, ideally in front of our father. Since he performed at midwinter, his ego has been in danger of engulfing all of Tirion. Even Celumë and I together are not powerful enough to keep it in check.

Anyways, the history. I know you were looking for my letters from the late third and early fourth ages, but I can actually improve on the proposition slightly. You see, much of my correspondence with Boromir and Halon was returned to me when they died. Mortals really have no sense as to what to do with relationships with we firstborn, and their children assumed that reading letters from me to their fathers, or putting them in some sort of library, might have been rude. Boromir was never much one for organizing his correspondence, so I also have some letters he received from several of our friends. Not only am I happy to lend them to you, but if you have them transcribed- or give them to a printer you trust- I would be happy to see some of the less intimate ones appearing in libraries. I’ve sent you the full collection, of my letters and theirs, and trust in your discretion and prudence. 

Love from Valmar, 

Maedhros

-

To Maedhros Fëanorion,

While I appreciate the gesture, I think Sam would rather you did not endeavour to make an appearance at his and Rosie’s wedding. Last time you were in the Shire, it was the talk of the town for weeks, and although it did help convince everyone that we were telling the truth about our story, you are- and I shall be bold and say so- too tall. Incorrigibly so. I would always be happy to meet you in Bree, next time you are near, but I fear if you appear to tower over the Bride and Groom, some of the wedding party may faint. 

My book is going well, and I find I am enjoying the process of writing it more than I thought I would. My translation of your book is out in the world of the shire, and is receiving very little readership, though, as always, there are young Tooks looking for trouble and willing to find it even between the pages of heavy tomes. 

I still haven’t decided if I’m staying or going. Bilbo is going, I think, and I know Elrond wants an answer from me sooner rather than later, but I hate the process of making the decision. I’m tired of people looking at me like I don’t belong, but I cannot imagine Valinor would be any less so, I would only not belong for different reasons. That, Bilbo has never minded. His nearest and dearest friends were always elves and dwarves and wizards. But mine are hobbits, for better or for worse. 

My hand aches from all this writing, after what I have already done today. I think I shall send this off before you find your way on the road to the wedding. 

Best, 

Frodo Baggins. 

1420 S.R.

-

T.A. 3020

Maedhros, Son of Fëanor,

As you asked, I gave your bracelet to Thorin Stonehelm. He appreciated the craftsman greatly, and was shocked to learn that it was the work of not only an elf, but of Celebrimbor himself. He was gratified by your respect. I have also placed the order you asked for a ring for your Fingon. The design you drew was helpful, but the smith I sourced it to was wondering if you were interested in large diamonds. I said no, but wanted to pass the question on anyways. 

I hope Rhûn is treating you well, 

Gimli, Son of Gloín

-

To: Boromir, Son of Denethor, care of Elrond Peredhel  
From: Faramir, Son of Denethor  
Writing in the Second Year of the Rule of King Aragorn of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.

Dear Boromir, 

I’m not sure where this letter will find you, but I’m sending it on to Rivendell in the hopes that Lord Elrond will be able to pass it on. I wanted you to know as soon as possible that Éowyn and I have decided to get married. There is no particular rush, and you should feel no pressure to return to Gondor, although I know Théoden would be happier if we were wed before sundown. With Aragorn and Arwen settled in Minas Tirith, I often find myself leading from the ground, in rebuilding efforts across Gondor, as well as in the last of our military efforts, clearing orcs out wherever we may find them. Éowyn has been performing much the same duties for Rohan, as her brother is now formally being trained as the heir, and so our paths cross more often than I might have anticipated, though we have little time to wed in the fashion of men. 

The word I have had from our father is sparse at best, which I assume means things are going well. There has been no declaration of war from Khand, so he must be behaving himself within certain limits. Aragorn maintains relations with our other allies, and things seem to be going well. The support of Harad in cleaning up the remaining orcs is a constant blessing, and I find that each time I have the chance to work with my counterparts across the border, things go more smoothly. Some of my men are beginning to learn Haradic. Some of theirs are beginning to learn Westron. All of them like a good drink, and are proud of a battle or raid well conducted. This is the groundwork of diplomacy, and it is never dull. 

Speaking of Harad, I have good news for Halon. Tentatively, his nobility has been approved. Nothing is official yet, but things are looking very good. Éowyn and I will not be overly offended if you overshadow our wedding. Not to, I don’t know, put pressure on you to rush. 

Love, 

Faramir

P.S. 

I left this to go eat dinner, and realized I had something I wanted to ask you. Do you think Mother would have liked Éowyn? I like to think that she would have, but I think it’s a silly fantasy. Was she anything like our father? Would she have respected Éowyn as a warrior, or would she have wanted me to look for someone more conventional. I don’t want to ask Father because I am both terrified that he would try to disguise the truth to comfort me, and that he would not. You remember her better than I, so I hope you can provide some insight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A decision and a proposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: very minor, opaque references to Frodo’s canonical PTSD. I really don’t think this’ll bother anyone, but just a head’s up.

February 2nd, T.A. 3021

Dear Halon, 

Let me be the first to offer you my congratulations on your new lordship. Are you still nervous about the responsibilities? Because I can promise you that you will do well. You are the sort of person who was willing to walk into certain death with a crowd of strangers. The duty of lordship will be nothing. What’s more, Boromir has been trained for this all his life. He can help you understand the nuances of the thing. I will, too. The easiest trick is this: the more you believe in your own ability, the more other people will believe in it. 

You’re a good person, Halon. You deserve this. You deserve Boromir, too. You know I’m a sap for romances, but I really believe the two of you have something special here. 

Speaking of, I’ve gotten a new ring from made for Fingon, since his was lost. It’s in Gimli’s care for now, but when we’re done in Rhûn (for now, I want to come back), we’ll go by Erebor, and I’ll pick it up. I was planning to give it to him, but I think I’m going to wait until we get back to Rivendell, in a couple months. We’ve always had private marriages and proposals; a party might be a nice change. You should come on your way back south.

I hope you’ve been enjoying your time in the high north. Don’t get killed by orcs. 

Love,   
Maedhros

—

Dear Grandfather, 

Aragorn and I need your advice. Or your opinion, to be more precise. We have already asked Faramir and Denethor, both of whom were in favour of the idea, for different reasons. 

As you have probably been informed, Aragorn has the distinction of being being heir to both Gondor and Arnor, which thus makes him the king of a massive swath of land that hasn’t been ruled by one man for hundreds of years. In addition, we have reclaimed a significant amount of land that Sauron had occupied. It is the work of several lifetimes. Faramir has been working closely with the reclamation efforts, and is a natural leader, which makes him the obvious choice to lead an expanded Ithilien with all the land we’ve reclaimed from Mordor. We’ve asked, and he has agreed, pending his marriage to Éowyn next year. This leaves Aragorn directly ruling the rest of Gondor and all of Arnor. 

The salient point is this: we both think that Boromir is the most logical choice to lead Arnor. The only other choice would be Lothíriel of Dol Amroth (her brothers being either already placed or personally unsuitable), and her potential marriage to Prince Éomer would be a serious problem for her to maintain a continuous, active presence in Arnor.

Denethor is all in favour of Boromir being given honours at any time, and Faramir thinks he has the skill to do it. What we still need to know is this: does Boromir have the desire? Would he be happy if we gave him this duty? It would be the work of a lifetime. The few towns that remain in Arnor are independent, the castles are in ruins or occupied by bandits. Trolls and orcs roam some areas, others are old growth forests. The only occupied and well-managed parts are within the bounds of the Shire, and should not be subject to mannish rule anyhow.

Aragorn thinks the world of Boromir, and we don’t want him to be unhappy. Halon, too, obviously. Don’t hurry your opinion. What is another couple of years to a kingdom that has been kingless for mortal lifetimes? 

To assuage any worries, let me add for myself: I love being mortal, and Aragorn and I are very happy. I’m going to miss my father, when he leaves, but that is the nature of mortal life, I believe. It does not trouble me as I thought it would.

Love, 

Arwen Undómiel,   
Queen of Gondor,   
Writ this day, the eleventh of February in the second year of her reign.

—

T.A. 3021

Maedhros, 

I enjoyed my time with you and Fingon in Rivendell immensely. It was worth the trip down from Lothlórien just to see the look on his face when you pulled that ring out of your jacket. I thought he was going to faint or burst.

I don’t know how you managed to get so many people together. I sort of had this idea that after the wedding, I would not see any of them until I sailed for Valinor. Some of them, I had thought never to see again. But you gathered us old elves quite nicely, and it was a delight to have the young ones and your mannish friends together again. 

I hope that you can convince Frodo to come to a decision, as we discussed. You know he needs to commit, to one course or the other, and sooner rather than later.

I cannot stay much longer, Maedhros. If I wait, and watch Arwen and Aragorn rebuild this world, I will stay here until I die. That is not what I want. I want to see my parents again, and Finrod, and Aegnor and Angrod and Orodreth. I need to go. You need to help me make that happen. 

Yours, 

Artanis Nerwen

—

Maedhros, 

There’s no need to come to the Shire. I’ve decided. I’m not sailing. 

Much as my wound pains me- and always will, Elrond thinks- I don’t want to go. I’m tired of feeling like I don’t belong, and though I feel that here, I don’t think I would feel it any less in Valinor. Here, at least, I have Sam and Rosie, and Merry and Pip. This place is beautiful, and there’s good here. I can do something here, and find a place for myself. You taught me that a home doesn’t have to be what you were familiar with, it just has to be what you love and where you are loved. 

I have no idea what the outcome of all this will be. But I suppose nobody ever knows what the outcome will be. 

I’ll try not to be afraid.

Yours, 

Frodo Baggins 

1421 S.R.

—

To: Maedhros, Son of Fëanor, care of Elrond Peredhel   
From: Boromir, Son of Denethor  
Writing in the Third Year of the Rule of King Aragorn of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.

Dear Maedhros,

Aragorn had made us an offer, and I don’t know what to do. He wants to make me the Steward of Arnor- with a position for Halon as my consort, if he wants. I have no idea where to even begin. Arwen called it ‘the work of a lifetime’, and I think it would be closer to your lifetime than to mine. I barely know how to run a kingdom, let alone how to rebuild one from its constituent parts. And Halon was nervous enough when he thought being a lord would amount to a small fief in rural Harad and paying tribute to the court every three or four years. How can I ask this of him? 

“Then say no,” I hear you telling me. You probably have some insightful comment about the value of self-knowledge, but I don’t know what it is yet. I can’t just say no, Maedhros. This is the chance of a lifetime. For all that I may have gotten out of the frying pan that is Gondor and into the fire of Arnor, I can’t just leave this to someone else to manage. The men of Gondor aren’t cowards. I shouldn’t be afraid of this. I think I have to face it, head on. Not now- Aragorn was clear on that point- but some day. In a year, perhaps, or two. But I can’t ask Halon to do this with me. He’s loved our time traveling together, and him showing me the south most of all. How can I ask him to spend the rest of his life tied down somewhere so far from this home he obviously loves?

I hate that I might have to choose between this duty and what I increasingly think I should call the love of my life. I hate that I know what I would choose. 

Yours,

Boromir, Son of Denethor. 

\--

Dear Boromir, 

He loves you, not the travelling, you idiot. Decide together; stay together.

Love, 

Maedhros, 

Written in the hand of Rúmil of Lothlórien, as transcribed from the mental communications of Maedhros Fëanorion to ensure an expedient delivery. July 30th, T.A. 3021. 

P.S. 

Boromir, any idiot can tell that Halon adores you.

-Rúmil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should be titled ‘get your head out of your ass’. 
> 
> Next week: Aranya, my Dagor-Dagorath story will update on Friday. The Friday after that, this will be back. Aranya is one of my favourite things I’ve ever written, so I do highly recommend giving it a shot if you haven’t already. Or you can wait until next week so you have a bigger sample size of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An engagement, a wedding, and a goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW: discussion of depression and past suicidal thoughts, but the character experiencing them is in a better place & getting the help they need.

Halon, 

I wrote this down because it’s harder to say out loud. I fear I might ruin everything if I say it out loud but I know I have to tell you:

Aragorn and Arwen have offered to make me the Steward of Arnor. That I might rule and rebuild that kingdom as long as I live. They have offered you a position doing the same, with me. It would mean that you would rarely be able to go home again. You would be the only man of Harad in an empty, cold, miserable kingdom. Many of the people there would detest that we were lovers. I could never ask you to subject yourself to it. 

And yet I cannot refuse the task. I was born to be a steward, and now that I have seen the world, now that I know who I am, I want to use that for good. Arnor’s been abandoned, without a king or a government to guide it for lifetimes upon lifetimes. I want to fix that. I want to bring people laws and schools, armies to protect them, roads to connect them with the world, everything to integrate them with their brothers and sisters in Gondor and further afield. 

Still, I can’t make that choice for you. I won’t pressure you to take any course of action. 

No matter what, I love you. 

Boromir. 

\--

To: Maedhros, Son of Fëanor, care of Elrond Peredhel   
From: Lord Halon of Harad, Consort-to-be of Arnor  
Writing in the Third Year of the Rule of King Aragorn of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.

Boromir told me that you convinced him to ask me to stay. I trust by my addressing of this letter that you already know the answer. It seemed the easiest thing in the world to respond to his letter by getting down on one knee, and the smile he gave me- well, you should have seen it but I don’t think I would have wanted to share. 

It’ll be a long time before we can really be married, especially if we let Faramir and Eówyn go first, which we will. His father alone might take months at the journey, but we think we’ll wed in summer, not this one but the next, in Minas Tirith where we met and fell in love. I know this is hardly elven tradition, but I thought I might ask- would you officiate the wedding? Aragorn, properly, should do it, and I know Boromir loves him dearly, but without you we would never have been lovers. We would have died on opposite sides of a battle neither of us chose. It seems right, in a way. 

Your friend, 

Halon. 

\--

To: Maedhros, Son of Fëanor & Fingon, Son of Fingolfin, Kings of the Noldor  
From: Eówyn, Lady of Ithilien & Faramir, Prince of Ithilien  
Writing in the Third Year of the Rule of King Aragorn of the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.

Thank you for your attendance at our wedding, and for your gifts of elven cavalry swords and ancient texts. The intended recipients of each scandalized the father of the groom, and the note advising that it was liable to do so amused the bride greatly. 

Our love to you both, 

Eówyn

\--

Maedhros, 

I’ve asked you not to read this until I’m gone from this shore. Mostly because it will make you cry and that will make me cry and I’m tired of crying. 

If Fingon hadn’t come to find me- to find you- I think I would have been dead within the year. I was tired of living, and I hated myself. Getting up was exhausting. Food tasted like nothing. Not even bad, just empty, like chewing on ice without the feeling of cold. I think you know what that feels like. 

But here we are, and here I am. I’m going home. Elrond is taking me home. I’m so relieved I want to throw up, and so anxious I might very well do so. The thought of seeing Celumë again-

I think I’m losing the thread a little, but I can’t bear to write that first paragraph out again so you shall have to survive it. The point is this: I love you. Always and unconditionally. You’ve more than done your duty, by all of us. This is a reminder for you to stay here as long as you can. Stay with your mortal friends. You’ve always dealt better with their deaths than many elves could have. Travel. See if you can find the realms of the first elves. Maybe you can figure out where Daeron went- we never ran into one another and I always wondered what became of him. I forbid you from coming back out of a sense of duty to any of us. Not me or ammë, not any of our brothers, and not Elrond. He wants this for you just as much as I do, and though his love for us may be proof of madness, I find it is a madness I do not wish to refute. 

We’ll be here when you get back, I promise. 

Love, 

Maglor, Son of Fëanor,   
September 14th, T.A. 3021/F.A. 1

P.S.  
Can you believe we’ve been here so long that it is the fourth age? What madness. 

\--

Elrond, 

I might not include that last letter. You asked for everything and I am giving it to you, but… well, I trust your discretion. On that same subject, I chose not to include the letter you wrote to me when you left. You remember what it says, and I can’t think you’d want to exhibit that in a world where Elwing could read it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cracks knuckles* 
> 
> I’m back bitches.

**Author's Note:**

> So, summer update schedule! As of yet, the plan is to alternate updates of this and other miscellaneous stuff with updates of my long-planned (but almost finished!) Dagor Dagorath fic. that is going to be first updated next Friday so help me god I am DONE waiting.


End file.
